Here's the thing, aside from the obvious reason that breastfeeding is so important (oh you know, to feed your child) the 'breast' part of that is just that! It's BOOBS. We see them every single day whether it be on ourselves, our partners, or on TV. Boobs/cleavage are everywhere. They aren't given a second thought when they are on a commercial shoving a hamburger down a big chested women's throat. They aren't given a second thought when we see women in swimsuits all over social media. They aren't given a second thought when they are seen around town in low cut shirts. They damn sure shouldn't be questioned when a women is feeding her child. (Don't get me wrong, sometimes women abuse our right to nurse in public. There's no reason to have your nipple showing in full or to have both of your boobs hanging out.) I nurse with and without a cover. As Eilee gets older she fights a cover being over her face sometimes. Not that I blame her at all but I still keep it casual. I always wear a tank top under my shirt. I pull my outer shirt up, pull the boob that I'm feeding on out the top of my bra/tank top, then cover the top part of my boob up with my outer shirt.
I get genuinely happy when I see women nursing in public or posting nursing pictures because I feel like you are apart of a bigger picture when you do those things. It's sadly frowned upon and I am a huge advocate for normalizing breastfeeding. In order to do that, people need to be exposed more to seeing women NIP. I am proud of breastfeeding. It is hands down one of my favorite things about motherhood. The bond is one of a kind and can't be replicated in it's entirety. I hid it with my other children. I avoided nursing in public at all costs and I introduced a bottle very quickly because I was scared to NIP but I also was completely against feeding my child in a bath room stall. It took me 3 children and almost 7 years of soul searching to finally be confident enough in myself to NIP. Now I have so much regret on this topic. I regret caring what society thought. I regret giving up so easily with my oldest. I regret giving her a bottle too soon because I didn't want to nurse her in public. I regret not fighting harder to breastfeed my son. I regret giving it up with him fast because of my experience with my 2nd child. I should of tried more things to help him not throw up. I regret not making it a year with them. I could go on and on. It is apart of the reason that my mission is to normalize breastfeeding. I have heart felt regrets that I want to help others not have. I have regrets that could have been avoided had I not been afraid to NIP. I openly share my breastfeeding journey in hopes that people who know me get used to seeing breastfeeding pictures. I hope that my page makes it to where they don't think anything of seeing women share their journey. I hope that my openness encourages others to press on and fight for their right to feed their baby. I hope that I help new moms see the beauty in breastfeeding. My boldness isn't for everyone and that's okay. I respect that. But my boldness exposes others to something that they shouldn't give a second thought to and I pray that one day my boldness makes someone who once was shocked by women NIP, not even flinch when they see it anymore. In the short 2 months that I've been open about this I've had more people than I can count commend me for it and I've had 6 friends open up on social media about their journeys because of me. Six! That seems like a small number but those 6 women are exposing hundreds if not thousands of their 'friends' to breastfeeding. The web will just get bigger and bigger as it should if we all inspire women to be brave about breastfeeding. One day breastfeeding will be normalized and every single person who breastfed in front of someone will have been apart of that accomplishment.
SO post the brelfies! Nurse in public! Cherish the journey! Wipe off the shade or fear of society and BE PROUD of your accomplishment as a mother.
*** Please know that I'm not in any way shape or form against bottle feeding. I bottle fed all 3 of my bigs and had it not been for a special formula with 2 of my kids I don't know what we would have done. This post is solely about normalizing breastfeeding. It's not to downgrade moms who didn't or couldn't nurse.
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